As reported in last week’s Bulletin, physicians face a 23% cut in Medicare and TRICARE physician payments on December 1, 2010, unless Congress takes action before the current Medicare physician payment schedule ends on November 30, 2010.  An additional cut of 6.5%  is scheduled for January 1, 2011. (See House Leaders Urged to Avert a Medicare Physician Access Crisis, Bulletin, October 1, 2010)

This week, the AMA announced updated state profiles showing the financial impact of scheduled Medicare physician payment cuts, number of Medicare beneficiaries, number of employees in physician practices, and workforce statistics for each state. Access the profiles at http://www.ama-assn.org/go/medicarepaymentkit.  

Click here to view the profile for North Carolina.

Physicians are encouraged to review the profile and then talk with their Representatives and Senators  and urge them to address the upcoming Medicare physician payment cuts during the first week of the lame-duck session of Congressin November.